whAT IS REAL?

Available August 14th, 2018

With neither self-pity nor self-aggrandizement, this memoir takes a cold hard look at a life of crime, the toll it takes, the reality of life inside California’s prisons, and the price paid by an inmate's friends, family, and loved ones.

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“There’s no longer a need to commit crime in order to feel what it’s like to be inside the California prison system. Just read this book. Dude tells it like it is. Almost too well.”

— Scott Caan, actor and author of The Performance of Heartbreak

“This beautifully written tale of an ugly, psychologically, and spiritually torturous experience, is a shining example of a poetic mind operating in the most nightmarish of circumstances. To paraphrase Camus: In the midst of winter, Riley Perez found there was, within him, an invincible summer.”

— James Acheson, Producer of Godfather of Harlem, Mad Money, and Journey To The End of The Night

“[What Is Real] takes readers on a journey to the dark side of both prison life and human nature. A disturbingly honest memoir.”